


The Family Next Door

by lynnkath08



Category: Nanny McPhee (2005)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:50:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9688226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynnkath08/pseuds/lynnkath08
Summary: 13-year-old Clara Russell and her family move into their new home next door the Brown family. She befriends the seven misbehaved children, and eventually develops feelings for the eldest Brown child Simon.





	1. Meet The Russell Children

**Name:** Clara Scarlett Russell

 **Age:** 13

 **Gender:** Female

 **Family:** Mr. Russell (Father), Mrs. Russell (Mother), William Russell (Younger brother), Henry Russell (Younger brother)

_**Facts about Clara:** _

-She has a crush on Simon Brown

-Gets hyper from sugar

-Loves to pull pranks with her two brothers and new friends

-She likes to scare people

-She doesn't like the word 'please'

-Gets along great with all seven of the Brown children, but is the closest with Simon and Tora

-Absolutely loves the youngest Brown child Aggie, Tora even lets her hold her

 

 **Name:** William Scott Russell

 **Age:** 8

 **Gender:** Male

 **Family:** Mr. Russell (Father), Mrs. Russell (Mother), Clara Russell (Older sister), Henry Russell (Twin brother)

_**Facts about William:** _

-He is Henry's identical twin brother

-He is the older twin by 5 minutes

-He likes to trick people by switching names with his brother

-He is the crazier twin

-Loves to pull pranks with his siblings and new friends

-William and Henry both like to finish each others sentences

-Gets along great with all seven of the Brown children, but is the closest with Sebastian and Christianna

 

 **Name:** Henry Gregory Russell

 **Age:** 8

 **Gender:** Male

 **Family:** Mr. Russell (Father), Mrs. Russell (Mother), Clara Russell (Older sister), William Russell (Twin brother)

_**Facts about Henry:** _

-He is William's identical twin brother

-He is the younger twin by 5 minutes

-He likes to switch identities with his brother

-Despite his crazy personality, he is the slightly calmer twin

-He and his brother finish each others sentences

-Loves to prank call

-Gets along great with all seven of the Brown children, but is the closest with Sebastian and Christianna


	2. New Neighbors

*Clara's POV*

 

My family and I were moving into our new home and I hated it. I miss our old home, which was 2 hours away from here. I miss my friends. And that meant I had to go to a new school, which starts next month.

"Did we have to move?" I asked.

"Yes we did. Your father just got a new job and it's closer here," my mom said.

"It'll be fine honey. You'll like it here," my dad told me.

"I don't know," I said, crossing my arms.

"Clara we are here, you know. Now help us unpack," Mom said.

"Fine," I sighed as I rolled my eyes and helped unpack.

"Can we go out and play?" my little brother William asked.

"Yeah! We want to play outside!" my other little brother Henry said.

"You can play tomorrow, but put your toys and books in your new room," Mom said.

"Fine," my brothers said at the same time as they picked up some books.

We unpacked for about an hour until we heard a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Dad said as he walked towards the door.

"Come on guys, it might be our neighbor," Mom said. William, Henry, and I decided to tag along.

Dad then opened the door, revealing a family of 8 people: a grown man and 7 kids. Huge family! I observed the family while my parents were talking to the kids' father. I couldn't help but look at the eldest child, a tall blonde boy. He seems to be about my age. I'd have to say he's kinda cute. I was kind of spacing out until I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"This is our daughter Clara. She is 13, and the only girl," Mom said as she placed her hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of my daze.

Great. I must've made a fool of myself just staring, I wasn't even paying attention! I could've sworn I saw the tall blonde boy smiling at me. Great. Maybe he's laughing at me. But he's so cute! Wait, why am I thinking that way? I just met him! I haven't even talked to him yet!

"And these are our sons William and Henry. They are both 8," Mom continued the introduction.

I noticed the tall blonde boy walking towards me until he was right in front of me, and he held out his hand.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Oglington Fartworthy," he said. His siblings laughed.

"Simon!" his father yelled as he glared at his son. He looked back at my family. "I'm sorry about him," he apologized.

"It's ok. Hi, I'm Clara," I said as I held out my hand to shake.

"Hello, I'm Simon," Simon introduced himself as he shook my hand. It's so warm!

"Simon is 13 as well," his father, known as Mr. Brown, said. "And this is Tora, Aggie, Lily, Eric, Sebastian, and Christianna," he said as he pointed to each of his children.

"It's nice to meet all of you," I said, waving at them.

"I'm Tora. We should be friends," a girl, who was holding her baby sister, said as she walked towards me and held out her hand for me to shake. "And this is Aggie," she added, holding up her baby sister.

"Aww! She's so cute!" I squealed.

"Alright children," Mr. Brown said to his kids. "It's time to go. We can all get to know each other more tomorrow," he added.

They all turned and walked towards their house. I noticed Simon whispering something to his siblings. Two of his sisters turned to look at me and started giggling. His younger brother, the boy with reddish hair and glasses turned to look at me and smirked. I wonder what's going on.

"Alright everyone. Let's continue unpacking," Dad said as he shut the door.

We all continued unpacking, until Mom spoke up.

"Clara honey, are you alright?" she asked me.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," I told her. "Can we go see the neighbors tomorrow?" I asked.

"Of course. You can go play with the kids tomorrow. Your mother and I have to work so you three can spend the day with them," Dad said.

"Did you boys hear that?! We can play with the neighbors tomorrow!" I said to my two little brothers.

"Yay!" they said, and the 3 of us jumped up and down.

"Ok children, the sooner we finish unpacking, the better," Mom said.

After  a couple hours we finally finished unpacking.

"Great job everyone," Dad said as he high-fived all of us.

"It's almost dinner time, I'll start cooking," Mom said as she went to the kitchen.

We waited for about an hour then it was time to eat. I couldn't help but smile, just thinking about that Simon kid. He's so cute and funny! I didn't even realize I was picking at my spaghetti and spacing out until Mom said something.

"Clara? Clara, can you hear me? Hello? Clara," she said, snapping her fingers at me.

I immediately snapped out of my daze. "Huh? Oh! Yeah, yeah I'm good," I said as I continued eating.

"Are you sure you're ok? You're not sick or anything?" Dad asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. Perfectly fine," I responded.

"She's probably smiling because spaghetti is her favorite food," Henry said.

"Or she's excited to meet the neighbors," William said.

"You guys are too," I told them. "And the spaghetti is delicious," I added.

We ate and talked for another hour until it was time to clean up.

"Clara can you help me with the dishes?" Mom asked me.

"But I'm so exhausted," I whined.

"Honey," Mom said.

"Fine," I groaned. Mom smiled at me then we started washing the dishes.

"You were spacing out all day today," Mom told me. Great. I really don't want to have this conversation.

"Oh I guess I was just tired from the move," I told her. I was thinking about Simon! And I barely know him!

"Does it have anything to do with the neighbors?" Mom asked.

"No, like I said, I'm just tired," I responded.

"Ok, whatever you say," Mom said.

"Why do you assume it has something to do with our new neighbors?" I asked her.

"Well, you do like to socialize, and there are seven of them. I know you like making friends. And I'm pretty sure you were looking at that young boy," Mom told me.

"Young boy? There's three of them," I said, blushing.

"I was referring to the taller blonde. The one who's the same age as you. I could've sworn I saw him looking at you," Mom said.

"Can we drop this conversation?" I asked, blushing harder.

"Oh look honey! You're blushing!" Mom pinched my cheeks.

"Mom!" I whined.

"Ok fine, we won't have this conversation," Mom said. Thank you!

The dishes were finally done and we went to the living room to spend time with Dad, William, and Henry. We bonded and talked for a couple hours until it was time for bed. Normally I like to stay up late but today I was exhausted after moving. I miss my old friends, but I like to make some new ones. I was laying in bed in my new room thinking about today and regret thinking that it would be awful to move. I'm glad we moved here. I just laid their until I felt my eyelids become heavy and fell asleep.


	3. Making New Friends

I woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon. I love bacon! Feeling better after last night's sleep, I got up, did my morning routine, and went downstairs, and realized I was the last person to get up.

My family then noticed me. "Good morning Clara," they greeted.

"Good morning," I greeted back. We then started eating, and talking. "So can we finally see the neighbors?" I asked.

"You can go in an hour. We'll be at work by then," Mom told me.

"Ok," I said.

After an hour later William, Henry, and I headed to our neighbors' house to get to know them more. Our parents then followed behind. We stood in front of the house and I knocked on the door. The door opened, revealing a pretty woman. She looked at us and smiled.

"Oh hello there! You must be the new neighbors the children told me about. I'm Evangeline, their maid. Come on in," she said, stepping aside to let us in.

"We'll see you guys later. Have fun!" Dad said.

"And stay out of trouble," Mom said, then they left.

"Hello, my name is Clara. And these are my brothers William and Henry. It's nice to meet you," I said as we shook hands.

"It's nice to meet you too sweetheart," Evangeline said as she smiled. She then turned to the staircase, looking up in the second floor. "Children! You have some visitors!" she called. We heard footsteps from upstairs.

"Hey Simon! I bet it's that pretty girl from next door," I heard one of the girls say.

"Shut up Tora!" I heard Simon yell. I couldn't help but blush. Evangeline noticed, then laughed a little.

"It's okay, it's perfectly normal," she said as she rubbed my shoulder, making me blush harder.

Suddenly Simon appeared on top of the stairs. "Hi," he said as he waved at me.

"Hi," I said as I waved back.

Tora then appeared as well. "Oh hello Clara," she said.

"Hey Tora," I said to her.

"You guys want to hang out in our room?" she asked.

"Sure," I said as my brothers and I went upstairs.

"I'll call you guys when it's lunch time," Evangeline said. We thanked her and went up to follow Simon and Tora to their room. Once we reached their room we saw the rest of their siblings playing around. Two of them were jumping on their beds.

"Oh look! It's our new friends!" one of the other girls, who I remember was named Lily, said.

"Hey everyone," I said as I waved at them.

"Hello!" Chrissy said as she stopped jumping on her bed and sat down.

"So we were planning on pranking our nanny. Our 17th nanny, actually. Would you like to help?" Simon asked.

"Well you've just asked the right person. I love pranks!" I told him. We all huddled in a circle to discuss our plans on how to prank their nanny. It was going to be brilliant!

* * *

 We were all hanging out until we heard Evangeline calling us, telling us it was lunch time. All 10 of us went downstairs to eat when we saw a chicken at the table.

"It smells so good," I said.

"It does," Simon agreed.

"Let's do this guys," Eric said as he smirked.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," Tora said as she handed baby Aggie to me. I then gently placed Aggie in a pot filled with vegetables. Luckily it wasn't hot so we didn't get burned. Aggie started whimpering so I gave her the little rattle her late mother gave her.

"It's ok Aggie," I said softly, tickling her. Little Aggie giggled as she shook the rattle with one hand, and felt my cheek with her other hand, causing me to smile bigger. I then placed the lid on the pot.

"Alright, let's dress the chicken," Simon said, then he and I dressed the chicken in Aggie's clothes.

"I'll take a wing," William said as he pulled off one wing.

"I'll take the other wing," Henry said as he pulled the other one.

Simon then pulled off both chicken legs and handed one to me. Everyone else grabbed some pieces of the chicken and started eating, looking like innocent angels, waiting for the nanny. A minute later we heard some footsteps then Nanny Whetstone appeared.

"Children what are you doing- AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Nanny Whetstone screamed as she ran out. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! THEY'VE EATEN THE BABY! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" she kept on screaming until we no longer heard her voice. Everyone was silent.

Simon and I looked at each other, then we started laughing. We stopped when we heard footsteps, and continued eating. Mr. Brown suddenly appeared.

"Children, where's Aggie?" Mr. Brown asked. He then heard giggling coming from the pot, so he lifted the lid to see his youngest daughter and picked her up. "Look at you, you're all cabbagey and gravy-y. Now I will go to the agency to find a new nanny, and you will not get rid of her like you did with Nanny Whetstone and the others," he said as he handed Aggie to Tora, then he turned around and walked off.

"Papa," Aggie said, causing all of us to giggle.

I then noticed Simon walking up to the wall that had several paper dolls, I assume must be all the nannies they scared off.

"3 days, 8 hours, and 47 minutes. So that got rid of her..." Simon paused as he placed a new paper doll on the wall. "23 hours and 30 minutes quicker than the last one," he continued with a smile.

"Wow," I said as I smiled. Why does he have to be so cute?!

"I think the turning point was eating the baby. Well done Clara," Simon said as we high fived and smiled at each other.

We then went off to do our own little thing. William and Henry were thumb wrestling, Sebastian took a jar of jam from the closet and ate it while stepping on the piano keys, Tora was holding Aggie, Aggie was playing with her rattle, Eric was working on some kind of science project, Chrissy was just sitting on the floor doing nothing, Lily was twirling her hair, and Simon was sitting near the table looking at me. I then walked up to the table and sat next to him.

"Hey," I said as I smiled.

"Hello," Simon said as he smiled back.

From the corner of my eye I noticed Chrissy and Lily going up to Tora and the three girls started whispering to each other. I wonder what they were talking about. I then noticed that they were looking in mine and Simon's direction.

"Hey Clara! Are you two in love yet?" Chrissy asked. This caused the rest of the children to look at us.

"Oooh!" Lily said as she smirked.

"When's the wedding?" Sebastian asked.

"Guys! We hardly know each other!" I said.

"Yeah we just met yesterday," Simon said.

"Well that's why you two have to get to know each other, duh," Tora said.

"Simon and Clara sitting in a tree!" Chrissy sang.

"Chrissy shut up!" Simon said as he put his hand over Chrissy's mouth.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Sebastian sang.

"You too Sebastian!" Simon said as he put his other hand over Sebastian's mouth.

"First comes love, then comes marriage!" William and Henry sang.

"Guys you're suppose to back up for me!" I said as I put my hands over their mouths.

"Then comes a baby in a baby carriage!" Lily finished the song.

Suddenly Mr. Brown walked in. Thank you! "That's the final straw! There are no more nannies! All gone!" he snapped. Chrissy then clung onto his leg, pouting.

"It's not my fault. I tried to stop them," Tora said.

"Don't look at me. It's not my fault," Simon said when his father looked at him.

"Well you seem intent on distressing me, so I'm going to distress you. You are to go to bed immediately," Mr. Brown said. "Well, except for you three," he added, pointing to me, William, and Henry.

"Without supper?" Sebastian asked.

"Without supper," Mr. Brown responded. He then looked down at Chrissy, who let go of his leg, then walked off.

"Did he just say without supper?" Sebastian asked again.

"Never mind that. Did you hear what he said?" Simon asked. Everyone just looked at him, confused. "No more nannies!" he told them with a big smile on his face. I just wish I could pinch those cheeks because he's just so cute!


End file.
